‘This Is Your Moment’: Bernard Grech Urges ‘Disgusted’ Labour Party Members To Fight For Malta’s Normality
“This nation is calling us,” Bernard Grech told a crowd gathered in front of Valletta’s Great Siege Memorial – and online – as the monthly vigils for murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia resumed this evening.
“Our children are observing us. Let’s embrace whoever wants to get to this end goal, because only together will we able to get to it.”
Opening his speech by likening anyone who “somehow still thinks we live in a normal country” to Flat Earthers, Grech went on to call for members within the Labour Party – from activists all the way up to Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne – to come together and help regain Malta’s normality.
“Without truth, there can be no justice. Without justice, this beloved nation cannot heal.”
“Each and everyone of us who is here, and everyone who is following us from their homes, we all have faith that this country can be normal again,” Grech went on. “But today, we know for sure why it was not only necessary for [former Prime Minister] Joseph Muscat’s clique to win the election, but to win with a massive margin.”
“Dear Chris Fearne, I now turn to you,” Grech continued. “I turn to you.”
“I turn to you as Deputy Prime Minister,” Grech said. “As a person who wanted to be Prime Minister but wasn’t allowed to. As a Health Minister who made sure the country could fight off this global pandemic the right way with all the measures you introduced. I turn to all Labour Party members who are disgusted.”
“How can you allow your party to be filled with so much corruption?” Grech asked. “How can you look in the eyes of your party’s followers and promise them a better tomorrow, when these people are eroding the very soul of this country?”
“For this country to heal, it’s not enough for these criminal actors to resign, but for all the necessary investigations to be carried out freely and without any tinkering,” Grech added. “This is your moment. We speak in squares, you speak in investigations.”
Grech was speaking at the first monthly vigil for Caruana Galizia since the arrival of COVID-19 on our shores.
The vigil came a day after sensational revelations in the police’s case against Yorgen Fenech in connection with the assassination. Earlier today, Labour Party Deputy Leader Chris Cardona was asked to step down after being linked to the case. Meanwhile, former Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar has been placed under investigation for potentially leaking details in the case.
During the protest, which saw people donning masks and practice social distancing, a number of speakers took to the podium to lambast the rampant corruption still allegedly thriving within Malta’s government… bringing up some of the most divisive names from the past couple of years to the forefront once more.
“Life has now resumed since the pandemic,” activist Alessandra Dee Crespo told the crowd. “So shall our vigils and our protests.”
“A couple of days ago, when a police officer killed George Floyd in America, all hell broke loose over this injustice,” The Shift News’ André Delicata said. “There were massive protests all over the country, which spread all around the world, and they’ll leave a massive mark on the world. In Malta, they killed a woman. They killed a country. But we remained silent. Will we remain silent? The time for words is over. It’s time to drag out the criminal web from its roots once and for all and make sure it never happens again.”
Meanwhile, journalist Paula Fleri-Soler read out Occupy Justice’s statement from yesterday’s late-night protest, dubbing Malta’s corruption a “virus” and calling out former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s damaging strategy of “herd impunity”.
“The people named by these testimonies were – or still are – occupying very important roles in our country,” Repubblika president Vicki Ann Cremona added. “Ministers, Chiefs of Staff, corrupt businessmen… the list goes on.”
“My final word goes to Acting Commissioner Carmelo Magri,” Cremona finished. “Mr. Magri, yesterday night, I wrote to you asking you to provide protection to all those people who are in danger because of this case, including Dr. Jason Azzopardi. I reminded you that it’s your duty to protect all these people. After what happened to Daphne Caruana Galizia, we feel obliged to draw your attention to that which should be obvious. We shall keep our eyes on you and whoever comes after you. And today, we won’t find too many people who will think we’re exaggerating. You have a lot of cleaning up to do.”
Cremona’s final words came as a clap-back to Valletta Cultural Agency Chairman Jason Micallef, who reportedly left a comment on the protest’s Facebook live feed calling the Repubblika president a “social reject”.
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